H&M, Wal-Mart Destroy Unsold Clothing

I think its disgusting the way large corporations can do this to people. Here in Australia, I worked in the distribution centers of one of the largest retail stores in the country, BigW and we would see this kind of think happen there on regular basis...but not just bags of clothes, im talking entire shipping containers full of useful items (mainly clothes)

reply to post by whaaa


The more exclusive the brand the cheaper they're made in china.
They might claim it is worth $$$$ but the reality is the true cost is probably
only a few thousand bucks, or peanuts to the Brand Name.

I really don't mean to be vulgar, because usually I can control my temper, but ONLY ONE TERM describes these companies appropriately.

F*CKERS.

It proves my hatred of corporate #-assery. Out there, homeless people are shivering in the winter cold. People don't have enough to wear. CHILDREN don't have enough to wear.

And these big conglomerates decide that they've got so the political and corporate clout to just DESTROY these clothes without a second thought.

I'm angry. I got so angry when I read that post.

OH MY GOD I AM SO PISSED.

Corporate charity my ass. Corporations never do anything but for themselves. And now they control our government too, driving their interests - THEY DISGUST ME.

Now I need to calm down. Going off, drinking some lemonade, and going to listen to Owl City or something.

I've been reading so many posts from so many people expressing their scorn and hatred of politicians, but to me, no negative feelings I will ever feel comes close to the hatred and scorn I have for BUSINESSMEN.

Bernie Madoff aside, I mean those leaders of these companies who decide it's okay to destroy these clothes so no one will resell them instead of giving them to people who NEED NEW CLOTHES FOR CHRISTMAS AND THE NEW YEAR but CANNOT AFFORD THEM.

Can you imagine how happy people would be if they received the unsold Christmas winter wear? How much WARMER they would be? How much more hope they would have?!?!

No, these businesses don't think about anything, don't imagine about anything but MONEY.

Forget about taking down politicians, I'm going to focus more energy on taking down businesses that pollute the environment, sell our natural resources that we have RIGHTS to BACK TO US (Water, for one, heard about Nestle?), and deprive the needy of precious items.

ARRRRGHHHH!!!


[edit on 8-1-2010 by KarlG]

Yes it makes sense... They don't care about me/you or anyone, but themselves.

I worked in both retail and a food service during college ...
I worked for Target, clothes / merchandise remained in the store until sold.
Damaged or returned was to be handled by the makers directions, return to maker or destroy ( almost all was return to maker ) I doubt that any other retailer has different options. Anything handled by other then makers directions was a firing offense.
I have friends that work at Walmart and have never heard any different.

Food service is too heavily regulated, I worked at a 4 star restaurant, we would cook tons of food for special days ( Thanksgiving, Xmas, ect...)
We tried to give away extra several times, fresh out of the oven and it was refused by churches and food banks due to liability issues. You can look at any major relaters website and see the amount they contribute to local charities. Our local Walmart has provided us with free hot dogs buns brats and soda for fundraisers on their property ( that is the only restriction ) has to be used on site.

They are companies and are here to make money, any good they due beyond that is a blessing. Unless you donate and provide / donate yourself, you should not be commenting. I myself provide for a family of 5 and frequently go without, I ask for nothing, I expect nothing .. anything I get I am grateful for, and will pass on the favor when i can! DO YOU ?

DAMN! Did I miss something? When did the world go communist? The items we are discussing here are PRIVATE PROPERTY! Everybody is too busy whining about the poor and the needy to see the big picture. Since when is it evil to make a PROFIT! Who owns these big corporations that you are all bitching about? How about STOCKHOLDERS? Who are the STOCKHOLDERS? Everybody with a retirement plan, an investment plan or a 401K. You want to talk about charity? How about knowing what you are talking about before you go shooting off your mouth? The major source of funding for charities are these CORPORATIONS you are all bitching about. Anybody know how much McDonalds gives out in charitable contributions every year? How about Sears, Wal-mart or Target? I belong to an organization that hosts a Christmas party for needy children every year. Each child gets a wrapped gift from Santa. Where do we get the gifts? About a week before the party, we go to the local Walmart, late at night and meet up with one of the managers and shop for these gifts. When we reach the checkout line everything is rung up at between 35% and 50% of it's marked cost. A local small chain grocery store gives us a break on the costs for the meal served at this party. Without this help, we couldn't afford to even try to have a party. Before everybody yells "They get a tax break for doing this!" remember one thing. Corporations get a tax break for CASH donations, the criteria for merchandise donations is much different.

Anybody remember the Super Bowl between the Giants and Patriots a few years ago? Everybody expected the Patriots to win and have an undefeated season? Several sportswear companies had aparel made in advance proclaming the Patriots as champions. Anybody watch 60 Minutes about a month after the Super Bowl? They did a segment on what one company did with their mislabeled clothing. The company donated it to an organization that had missionaries in South America. 60 Minutes actually sent a crew to a remote section of South America to show people wearing shirts and hats proclaiming the Patriots as the Super Bowl champions. The segment ridiculed that company and was a public relations nightmare for them.

Say Sears did what some people here suggested and removed a label or marked clothing so that it couldn't be returned and donated it to a shelter or to some other charity. Say some of that clothing made it's way to an inner city shelter. How long do you think it would be, before there was a discrimination lawsuit against Sears for donating defaced clothing to minorities? It has happened. How long do you think it would take before that clothing was being sold at flea markets?

I'm all in favor of giving people a hand up, but, I draw the line when I hear people talking like they have a right to determine what others do with their property. Here's an idea for you. Why don't you go to a store and buy some of that clothing and then donate it to the charity of your choice?

Originally posted by RichH



They are companies and are here to make money, any good they due beyond that is a blessing. Unless you donate and provide / donate yourself, you should not be commenting. I myself provide for a family of 5 and frequently go without, I ask for nothing, I expect nothing .. anything I get I am grateful for, and will pass on the favor when i can! DO YOU ?

YES, I do donate. And I agree with you that I shouldn't be critical unless I didn't pay it forward myself. I'm not going to list the charities I donate to except for one. I donate goods, services, and time to a non profit organization dedicated to helping returning vets from Iraq and Afghanistan and some of them could have used those clothes and food destroyed by the big corps you seem to be defending. We approach small business for donations and they are so generous. Bless them!!

All I'm saying is that times have changed and it's time for Big Business to shoulder some of the responsibility and pitch in to help those that can't afford their overpriced, Chinese made junk.

As and American Craftsman, I would like to encourage everyone to BUY AMERICAN when possible.

Cudos to these companies that have a SOUL.

www.sbannister.com...



[edit on 8-1-2010 by whaaa]

Originally posted by MrVertigo
Where products such as cars, washing machines & computers are built with for a limited lifespan, so people will have to buy replacements within a few years.

Implying our technology allows for products with an unlimited lifespan...

You can't make a car that will last forever. Things break, accidents happen, people don't take care of their things. It's not that the companies say "oh, we'll just make it so this item will fall apart after so many uses and they'll have to buy another one!" It's that things can't be made of ever lasting materials, and even if they could, small pieces can fall out or a wire connection can come loose. These things can be fixed, and it's an individuals choice to fix it/get it fixed or spend money frivolously on a brand new version of an item they already own.

Blaming the manufacturer on this is ridiculous, no matter how much work they put into something an unforeseeable problem can and will arise and that's the risk you're taking when you make a purchase. This is why I usually wait a while before buying new technology, get an idea of the failure/malfunction rates and decide which items to avoid.

Originally posted by liketheplague

Originally posted by MrVertigo
Where products such as cars, washing machines & computers are built with for a limited lifespan, so people will have to buy replacements within a few years.

Implying our technology allows for products with an unlimited lifespan...

You can't make a car that will last forever. Things break, accidents happen, people don't take care of their things. It's not that the companies say "oh, we'll just make it so this item will fall apart after so many uses and they'll have to buy another one!" It's that things can't be made of ever lasting materials, and even if they could, small pieces can fall out or a wire connection can come loose. These things can be fixed, and it's an individuals choice to fix it/get it fixed or spend money frivolously on a brand new version of an item they already own.

Blaming the manufacturer on this is ridiculous, no matter how much work they put into something an unforeseeable problem can and will arise and that's the risk you're taking when you make a purchase. This is why I usually wait a while before buying new technology, get an idea of the failure/malfunction rates and decide which items to avoid.

Uhhhh, does the term "planned obsolescene" ring a bell?

en.wikipedia.org...

Another topic that needs to be explored....but not in this thread

reply to post by JIMC5499


Why are losses more deserving of tax breaks than charitable donations?

Would you support changing the tax law to encourage charity? If not, why not? There is not an ethical basis for giving tax breaks to businesses for losses, it is just done as a way to reduce the amount of taxes a business has to pay.

Giving tax breaks for charitable donations instead of losses would be a simple fix and likely drive up corporate donations significantly as corporations are first and foremost focused on earning as much money as possible.

Nonsense!!. ( to the poster who claim its about capitalism's right and charity is socialism)

There will always be the have and the have nots. The 'haves' worked hard or through luck born with silver spoons deserve their due.

But there will always be 'have nots' in life. The economic order had been structure this way since civilisation began. The pyramid at the top can only stand a few.

The least those who are fortunate at the top can do is to take an honest look down and if whatever can be spared, help them out. This is nothing about capitalism or socialism. It's about being human.

And as for expired food, it makes sense to dump them rather than to kill others. No one would be blamed for dumping expired food. No human would want even dogs to get sick. But clothes and many other items have no expiry dates, why dump them instead of giving it the less well off?

Are we just simply jealous of others getting it FREE? If so, do know, not many may be as fortunate as us in terms of education or social status. It's only unwanted stuff, for goodness sake!!!

[edit on 8-1-2010 by SeekerofTruth101]

reply to post by Bobbox1980


As far as I know there isn't a tax break for losses. Taxes are based on PROFITS. You know, the amount left over when you take the amount that you made and subtract the expenses in making it. Losses come under the expenses part of the equation. Contributions to charities is a good business practice. It helps a company's image and can often be more effective than an equal amount spent on advertising. Something people seem to forget is that when profits are up, so is the amount that companies give to charities.

S&F for you. The greed of these companies knows no bounds. They would rather destroy these items that might keep people from freezing to death on the streets because they'd rather the person spend their last dime on a made in china hoodie. Who cares if the person dies a week later because they chose not to freeze to death, and instead had to starve right? Or vice verse, the amount of food that gets thrown away is astounding.



[edit on 8-1-2010 by Raverous]

This post is for anyone who may have missed it.

If a business has the cure for cancer or an energy source that will end production of gas but they can make more money by hiding that, is it still right? Selling something cheap over a lifetime makes more money then a one time buy. If the cure for cancer was in pill form and cost 1M, I'm sure there would be some one who could sell it for 1k and be happy, then others selling it would be forced to drop the price. Same goes for an energy device, people would also try making thier own as well.

If the govt. can tell us what to do, make money from us, make our rules and tell us that we can not live without them, they may as well be a business. The govt. doesn't normally listen to its people if it will lose them alot of money or power, income tax, what can be done with your own land and changing certain laws. Really, its like saying the govt. is a business and can do what ever it wants with its products (us) as long as they don't willfully kill us.

why would they do that? they could be giving those cloths to people in need of them. i cant belive they burned them, thats wrong. i will never shop at wallmart and other big chains

Well this doesnt surprise me. I have worked in retail for years and this always bothered me. I never understood why they couldnt just donate to the less fortunate rather than throw good unworn items away. Many food places do this too. I remember going to a Wendy's and having to go back in after the drive-thru because they messed up my order. Well when I gave them the burger they gave me they threw it away! It was perfectly fine, just not what I ordered. I asked why they threw a good sandwich away and she said that once it leaves the store it cant be put back. I asked her why not give them out to the homeless that sit outside on the street corner?! This country wastes too many things that many people would be grateful to receive.

reply to post by mblahnikluver


When I delivered for a pizza place (a big chain) each night there would be a few made wrong for whatever reason - they were put on top of the lamp station so they stayed sorta warm and if you had time you could grab a slice or 2 - which was good cos I was often too busy to stop for a break.

Well I quite often grabbed whatever I could and stuffed it into a smaller box to take with me for a munch after I'd dropped my delivery off - quite often I would see some of the homeless I recognised on the way back through the main street - at the lights I might get a hopeful wave so the next time out I made sure I'd put a couple of these slices away for who ever it was (I used to go drinking a lot in that area and they would always give me a heads up if there was trouble).

Thin is these lights were in view of the counter staff - one day the owners daughter saw me toss the guys a box over - man I got a new one ripped! - she saw me do it weeks earlier and they had been keeping a tally - about 4 or 5 times they saw it (although I did it most shifts!)... They wanted to charge me £50 out of my wages! - So I pointed out a few minor things, suggested that some of the drivers and riders worked illegal hours sometimes and that most of them if they looked at the details on their vehicle insurance would find out they are driving illegally - needless to say I didn't have to pay.

I got another job a few weeks after - got fed up of dicing with death on my the little moped! (although I loved riding it) - Made sure I got another job where I could feed my self tho! - and the fire exit became the new hobo stumble through! - I don't like to waste (half) good food - and who knows, one of those favours may get me into heaven! (don't put money on it tho)

Originally posted by groingrinder
This is disgraceful. I have seen bookstores destroy books that go unsold as well by ripping them to pieces instead of donating them to shelters, libraries, and old folks homes.

That is a requirement by the manufacture/publishers in order to get credit for the unsold books. It is illegal to sell a "ripped" book.

they should be fined for polluting


they wasted valuable resources in a time we should be rationing in a very poor economy, many people could have benefitted, but instead the stuff ends up in a landfill


we are making new laws on everything nowadays, we damn well better make one on this or our government is really hypocritical

The only new clothes i've had in years is a pair of jeans, as i can't often spare money for clothes.

Throwing away clothing that is unsold is proof enough of the huge profits they make and their lack of humanity. It's disgusting.

Even in the UK, there have been people who have frozen to death this winter. No doubt the number is higher in the U.S.